US promoter to manage Crosbie's venues

US entertainment giant Live Nation will manage the four Dublin
entertainment venues owned by property developer Harry Crosbie when
they are opened to the public.

Mr Crosbie has agreed a management deal with the US company to
run the new 15,000-seater Point when it opens this time next year
as part of his €850 million redevelopment of the land around
the venue.

Live Nation will also take over the running of Vicar Street, the
venue he owns on Thomas Street in the Liberties in Dublin.

The US company will manage Vicar Street 2, a smaller music venue
that Crosbie is building next to the redeveloped Point, and the
Daniel Libeskind-designed 2,000-seat theatre that is being built
near Mr Crosbie's home at Grand Canal Square in the south
docklands.

Vicar Street 2 will open in 18 months' time, while the Libeskind
theatre will open at the end of next year. Mr Crosbie said it would
not be possible to run the venues without the support of an
international concert and events promoter such as Live Nation.

"The real marriage is between a really good venue and the
product," said Mr Crosbie. "There is no point in having the product
without the venue. I need them and they need me. That is why I have
the management contract across all the venues."

Crosbie said that Aiken Promotions, the concert organiser run by
Peter Aiken, would continue to promote gigs at Vicar Street with
Live Nation. He said the enlarged Point, which is almost doubling
in size to a 15,000-seater venue, would mean that more big-name
acts could include Dublin on their international tours.

"There will be more choice for the public. It will be easier for
us to bid for product because before we were always curtailed by
the fact that they could earn more money elsewhere," he said.
"Rock'n'roll is very much about money. When we are at 15,000 venue,
we can compete with the world."

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He said the Libeskind theatre would attract international opera,
ballet and theatre tours that could not be held in Dublin
previously because there was no indoor venue large enough. "It is
all about capacity," said Mr Crosbie. "When you are above 2,000
seats, you can bring in any product."

Live Nation is one of the largest concert and tour promoters in
the world. It owns a large number of British venues and music
festivals with Irish promoter MCD.